23646: (reply)! Raber: Re: 23639: (reply) anonymous: (reply) Re: 23633: (reply) Brown: Re: 23627 (discuss) Anonymous: Haiti tomorrow (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

>From raber@valkyrie.net

Right on!  There lies the beauty of the electoral college!  It prevents the
domination of and entire country by city dwellers while at the same time
preventing manipulation of those country folks by misguided politicians they
may vote in office.  Maybe Haiti could use an electoral college for a period
of time while schooling  a generation in quality elementary education.
Remember that no matter how messy things were in the 2000 US elections, once
the Supreme Court  ruled, the decision was accepted by the politicians (even
if they did not agree) and the country continued to function.  Because most
voters had an education they understood democracy.  Democracy will not work
in Haiti until all have access to quality elementary education!  It is
ironic that many of the same people who view the American electoral college
as obsolete (Waters, Rangel, and company) also saw nothing wrong with the
way a populist Aristide elected by popular vote(amazingly a huge portion of
the upper and middle class voted for him) manipulated uneducated Haitian to
bury the country even deeper in the mud..   He could have used his same
dictatorial powers to impose a country wide elementary public school system
(even if it had to be in Spanish!) instead of the many Nissan Patrols,
helicopters, trophy high schools and some Cuban run private University.
Actions speak louder than words.   I hope that whomever is elected the next
president of Haiti makes education their number one priority.  Families are
spending over half of their yearly income sending their children to school.
No other measure would be as popular as free elementary education for all.
This would free up personal funds for food, clothing, starting businesses
etc...  unfortunately a common thread to all Haitian governments has been
the fear that education of the electorate would make it that people in
government would no longer be able to rob the country of its ressources.  As
I have observed, the first moves of any new official (all the way down to
the local mayor) are to steal public lands, destroy the environment,
illlegally tax the locals, build homes with public money for themselves and
their relatives, obtain a car with public money, and appoint family and
friends to any available jobs.

As far as I know (someone correct me if I'm wrong), only Latortue and the
Cabinet are new.  All other people under them running the country are still
the same ones that have been there since before Aristide left.  Those people
know that if elections happen next year, their days of plunder will come to
a close.  Corruption must be at an all time high since their days may be
numbered.

Democracy starts at the local level.  In the US even some Red hot Republican
states like Indiana traditionally have had Democratic governors.   The lower
down the chain the more mixed is the Republican/Democratic assortment.  A
true display of democracy in Haiti will be when the local Cazek and mayor
will no longer be the most feared person but rather the most admired
individual by the community.   People can put up with presidents they don't
like.  They just don't want life to be hell in their neighborhood.


>
> Anonymous writes>
>" Whilst thanking Haines Brown for his appreciation of the first part of my
> posting I must try to correct what I see as grievous errors (no doubt
fueled
> by optimism) in his comments on Democracy.
> A glance at the current shenanigans in the US will surely confirm my
> assertion that Democracy is a difficult exercise.
> Past Haitian governments have all ignored the education of the rural
> majority. Politically they don't count. There is little that a politician
> can steal from them and anyway the Political problem is Port au Prince and
> maybe 4 other towns."
>